Take the Easter celebration outdoors

Impress your family and friends with our unique assortment of outdoor Easter decorations. Look around and you will discover great Easter table centrepieces, Easter lawn decor, and more to help you brighten up your home outdoor this Easter.

Easter is the one holiday in the year where celebration is not as intense and décor consuming as opposed to the Christmas period.
However, for the sake of getting into the mood of the celebration, John-Meddle Segane, a designer with EI designers, Interior & Landscape consultants along Pilkington Road, says for a change, instead of having the celebrations indoors, take them outdoors. He says you can do a makeover of your exterior but you should keep it simple.
“You can use a number of décor concepts to create an Easter feeling but let it be inviting in case you are having visitors. This will help you appreciate your natural surroundings and test your ability to create an inviting compound.” he shares.

The compound
John-Meddle Segane, a designer with EI designers, Interior & Landscape Consultants on Pilkington Road, advises that the compound should be kept neat by trimming the grass and pruning branches on the trees in the compound.
“Do not exaggerate. There is no need for extra plants or grass. All you need is to fumigate to keep any pests or rodents at bay,” he says.
Additionally, Claire Natukunda, a landscape designer with Nuwell Impressions Limited on Entebbe Road, says taking the Easter celebration outdoors will give you a special feeling with enough air and space.

Thorny crown
Get a thorny crown. Natukunda highlights that the crown is a reminder of the crown of thorns that Jesus wore. “Therefore, you can make a thorny crown from thorny plants such as roses and pitch it up with flowers. You can attach this on the wall,” she advises that you use as many crowns as you want. “This will be determined by the space you have and the number of crowns you can make.”

Colours
Besides designing the compound, you need to use some Easter colours such as red, purple and green. Natukunda, however, says you should let purple be the dominant colour since the gardens will be green, most of your décor should be in purple because, “It is known as a royal colour and we are celebrating the resurrection of our King Jesus Christ.”
“Purple is used because it is a welcoming colour and it brings out the beauty of the celebration of Easter” Natukunda adds that since purple creates excitement, it is a good way of creating a jovial atmosphere.

Food layout
Holidays such as Easter to many are sealed off with a buffet. However, for décor’s sake, let that food attract everyone to your garden, backyard or compound to join you in celebration. Let the aroma fill the air after but also let the layout of the food be a crowd puller.

Lelia Kyomuhangi, the managing director Albar Catering Services, shares a few suggestions on what you could do to set an attractive eating place in the garden.
“You can opt for a barbeque for the main meal accompanied with a few salads of your choice or depending on what you have prepared for barbeque.” Kyomuhangi notes. She notes that it is good to have some fun out of the house and you can carry a barbeque stove out and everyone takes part in roasting what is available. This she says brings you together through sharing responsibilities.

“For barbeque, you can roast pork, beef, goat, sausages with steamed matooke or jacket potatoes. Salads may vary depending on preference but you can opt for kacumbali, carrot or even green salads.”

For barbeque, you can serve the meat from the stove and the salads can be set on a round table. Whichever way you choose to set your eating area, what is used can be determined by the number of people present to celebrate the day with you. For large numbers, you might need a long table or use what is available.

Easter eggs
The most common Easter decoration are the Easter eggs and these can be incorporated in the outdoor décor. Natukunda says you can either use the normal eggs and paint them with whatever colour you want or use the artificial eggs that come with finished designs.

“With natural eggs, you should boil then to avoid cases of breakage and later paint them in a design and colour of your choice. These should be painted in various colours preferably purple and other Easter colours such as red, black and green among others. After painting them you can tie them with ribbons on dry tree branches but if these are not available, you can tie them on any tree in the compound.”

Tree crosses
“The compound can be spiced up with simple handmade wooden crosses, create a little hill of sand and then place one of the crosses on the peak of the sand,” Natukunda adds that at the foot of the cross, you can pour silver stones as this creates a happy mood and helps reflect the Easter mood. If possible, you can also incorporate some dry plants in the décor because they are a symbol of rebirth because Easter falls around the end of the dry season so most plants are normally dry.